


Odds In Your Favor

by NihilNoviSubSole



Series: Running in Blind [2]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Canon LGBTQ Male Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Platonic Soulmates, Queer Character, Queer Themes, Queerplatonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24989200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NihilNoviSubSole/pseuds/NihilNoviSubSole
Summary: Rory and Arcade are back in the sequel to "Running in Blind!"After giving baby Atticus to Niobe in Novac, the two friends realize that the town needs medical help. When so-called "doctor" Ada Straus skips town after her chem racket is busted, Rory and Arcade gather a team of misfit medics to help steer the ship and heal the settlement. But their larger task--taking down capitalist dictator Mr. House--looms large, and the NCR and Legion both have a bounty on their heads.Will Novac prosper?Will Rory and Arcade succeed in liberating New Vegas?Will their friendship survive their trials--not to mention, their new, respective budding romances?Find out the answers to these questions and be prepared to ask some more.Thank you so much for reading!
Relationships: Courier & Arcade Gannon, Female Courier & Arcade Gannon
Series: Running in Blind [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808956
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

"You’re all doing very well. And thank you--so much--for coming out here.”

Arcade Gannon addressed the team of medics he and his best friend, Rory Wood, had assembled in the remote town of Novac. Their impromptu lecture/pep talk was over for the evening, and Arcade dismissed them to their living quarters to get some rest for the next day.

The newbie doctors were fresh from the California university where the Followers had their medical school, and getting them together had not been easy. Arcade’s supervisor, Julie Farkas, had been reluctant to let any of their Freeside staff join him and Rory in setting up the brand-new camp. 

“We’re going to need every warm body we can get in Freeside when the battles break out,” she had admonished when he first approached her with the proposition. “We’re already going to be hurting with you and Wood missing. I’m sorry, Doctor Gannon. I can’t spare anybody right now.”

“What was the point in sending us off researching if you weren’t going to actually let us help the folks who need us?” Rory had countered, rolling her eyes.

Julie smirked. “I will remind you, Wood, that I actually  _ didn’t _ authorize your little exploration mission! You just kind of walked off with one of my researchers one day, and I didn’t stop either of you because I thought the info you gathered could be useful  _ in the future _ ,” she snapped. “Well, the future is  _ not _ now. We just don’t have the people to spare, I’m sorry!”

When neither Rory nor Arcade spoke, she added, “Maybe when the battles are over. I don’t know. We’ll have to see.” Waving them both off, she finished, “You’re dismissed. And while you’re here, maybe see if you can help out a little before running off again.”

Following this conversation, Arcade and Rory remained in Freeside for several weeks. They could come and go as they pleased, of course, but they did not want to leave again without medics to bring back to Novac and set up a new camp, as they had promised Niobe.

Niobe had only agreed to take baby Atticus on the grounds that Rory and Arcade made the Mojave a safer place for him to grow up in, and the new Followers camp in Novac was their first step. So when a new batch of Followers had arrived at the Freeside camp from California, following their graduation, Rory saw an opportunity.

***

“God  _ damn _ it!” Julie hissed, shooing away a few of the new graduates from a patient’s bedside. “I don’t have time to teach these people. There’s just--there’s just too much going on!”

Among those cast away were Nathaniel Ray, Arabella Anderson, and Lolo Peters.

Nathaniel was an anxious man in his mid-forties. His hair was already snow white, making his light blue eyes stand out even more against his weathered, suntanned skin. He’d joined the Followers in California after his wife died from the flu, and though he was academically gifted enough to pass his exams and earn the title of “Doctor”, he struggled greatly with separating his emotions from his work. 

He was capable of performing basic first aid, but he faltered when it came to anything much more serious. A patient bleeding out, suffocating from influenza complications, or succumbing to a chem overdose would quickly cause him to lose his nerve. Julie had little patience for men in general, but Nathaniel’s incompetence quickly turned him into the proverbial thorn in her side.

It was a mystery how Arabella had graduated from university at all. She was a sour-faced young woman around Rory’s age, sporting long, black hair which she usually kept in low pigtails or a messy top-knot. Her skin was nearly paper-white, mysteriously spared from the Mojave sun, due either to genetics or general reclusiveness. 

Arabella was far from stupid, but she lacked any trace of respect for her superiors. She constantly questioned even the simplest of Julie’s orders, second-guessing them even when precious seconds ticked by in an emergency, and was always certain she knew a better way to do something than the way she was taught. Though she was often correct, Julie did not appreciate her attitude, and the two women often clashed, culminating in screaming matches that could be heard for several blocks outside the gates of the Old Mormon Fort. 

Finally, there was Lolo.

Lolo was a shy person, but very kind. They had difficulty making eye contact with anyone, and lacked much in the way of a bedside manner. Their naturally tan skin needed no help from the desert sun to maintain its warm hue, and their hair was curly, brown, and thick. Its length seemed to change with their mood (or, perhaps, the humidity). Sometimes it fell to their shoulders, sometimes it was top-knotted on the crown of their head. Lolo’s smile was beautiful, warm, and kind, and could make anyone blush if caught off guard--but they never wore it while they worked, instead focusing intently on the task at hand.

Lolo’s difficulty relating to patients was not for a lack of compassion. They prefered, instead, to view a patient’s problems as puzzles to be solved. Their reasoning for not laughing, joking, or offering comfort was simple: when Lolo was at work, they were  _ working _ , point-blank. 

Lolo was a skilled doctor, and Julie held no ill will towards them. In fact, she wouldn’t have minded keeping them around for their expertise alone. But Lolo struggled with the high volume of patients that Freeside saw, preferring to micro-analyze every single facet of an individual patient’s condition to the detriment of their efficiency, and had difficulty processing patients with the speed that was required in such a high-traffic camp. 

When Rory witnessed the three misfits cast unceremoniously from the medical tent, grumbling (or close to tears, in Nathaniel’s case), she had an idea.

“Hey, guys,” she approached them, “Hang tight for a second. I think I know somewhere y’all will be needed.”

“What do  _ you _ care, Little Red Riding Hood?” Arabella rolled her eyes. “You’re not our boss.”

“Ha, ha, it’s funny, cause my hair is red! Never heard that one before,” Rory laughed hollowly. “No, I’m not, but if you folks actually give a fuck about helping patients instead of standing around with your thumbs up your asses, waiting for the Battle of Hoover Dam to hit, you’ll follow me,  _ okay, _ Bitchy Longstocking?”

“That wasn’t even  _ clever! _ ” protested Lolo with a groan.

“No, it was, cause it--cause it kind of rhymes with--you know what? It doesn’t matter. Just--just stay here.”

She turned red as she heard Arabella laughing behind her.  _ You need more hands to help patients...put the ego aside… _

“Doctor Farkas,” she tapped her supervisor’s shoulder to get her attention.

“Please make it quick, Wood, I’ve got a bit of a situation, here,” Julie replied distractedly as she reached for some medical gauze from a nearby kit. “Kind of got a bleeder on my hands!” 

“R-right, okay, I can see that,” Rory stammered as she jumped in to help. “Uh--so your little team of misfits out there,” she began, passing Julie a sponge. “New recruits?”

“From California,” Julie rolled her eyes as she dabbed at the patient’s wound, “I don’t know how they graduated. Ray’s a nervous wreck, Anderson is just a bitch, and Peters would spend all day on one set of stitches if I let them.”

“No arguments here,” Rory acknowledged as she handed Julie a suction device. “But, well, I was just thinking. Those three would kind of hold things up when we get the  _ big _ wave of folks after the Dam, right?”

“Wood…” Julie wiped the sweat from her brow, streaking it with the patient’s blood. “I don’t have time for this. I  _ said _ , ‘no’. I can’t spare  _ any _ medics for Novac! I just can’t!”

“Hear me out! Hear me out. Okay?” 

Julie sighed. “Fine. You have 30 seconds. What?”

“Me and Arcade take them back to Novac,” Rory said quickly, “Whip ‘em into shape, make them better at their jobs. Once that area is a little more stabilized, we’ll just hang onto one of them to be the town’s medic until the fallout at the Dam is done with. Or me or Arcade can hang back there, or however it works out. I’m just saying--you  _ temporarily _ fork over three lousy medics, and you’ll come back with four permanent good ones.”

As Julie stitched her patient’s gushing wound, she considered Rory’s proposition. Rory continued handing her supplies for her surgery, silently assisting as needed, and eagerly awaiting her final answer.

Once the patient was cleaned up and resting comfortably, Julie heaved a sigh. “Fine.  _ Fine _ . Take them. But I don’t want to see  _ any  _ of you back here until those three are competent.” She raised an eyebrow. “That  _ includes _ you and Gannon. Okay?”

“You’ve got it. Thank you, thank you,  _ thank you!” _

“By the way!” Julie called after her, “Does Gannon  _ know _ about your little plan?”

***

“No, no,  _ no _ . No way. No!” Arcade buried his face in his hands. Rory had crashed into his sleeping quarters to tell him the news, shaking him until he woke up. She realized she could probably have facilitated a better mood from him before filling him in, but the damage was already done. 

“Oh, come on! Why not?” she pleaded.

“We don’t have  _ time _ to train new medics,” he snapped, “not before Hoover Dam. And  _ by the way! _ ” he hissed, lowering his voice and dragging Rory to his eye level, “We kind of have some  _ shit to do  _ before Hoover Dam? Remember?”

“I know, I know, I know,” Rory said quickly, “But they aren’t bad  _ doctors _ , just bad  _ Freeside  _ doctors. I bet they’d thrive in a more remote area!”

Arcade fidgeted, trying to wake up the rest of the way. “ _ Even if  _ you’re right, Rory,” he muttered groggily, “What makes you think  _ we _ can give them a crash course in how to be functioning human beings?”

“Who cares about  _ that _ ?” Rory laughed, “We just need them to be competent doctors. And, let’s face it, you trained  _ me _ , right?”

Arcade hesitated. “I  _ guess _ ...but you were...uh…”

“A mess. Okay? I was. I was a  _ trainwreck _ . And now I can do things that help people! Don’t you think that’s what these guys want?”

He sighed. “ _ Maybe _ …”

“Or else, why would they have gone to the Followers in California for school,  _ right _ ?”

“I  _ guess _ …”

“Come on…” Rory wheedled once more. “It’s  _ also  _ the only way Julie’s gonna let us out of here for any meaningful length of time.”

Arcade pulled the blankets over his head. After one more earth-shattering, pitiful groan, he finally spoke from his cocoon. 

“ _ Fine _ ...go...go tell them we’re out of here.  _ In the morning _ . And let me sleep, please.” He sighed. “I feel like I’m gonna need it. You, too. Go.”

“ _ Thank you! _ ” Rory shrieked, and kissed his cheek through the blanket as she sprang up to go tell the others. “You won’t regret it!”

“ _ Ew _ , _ ”  _ Arcade whined, dramatically wiping the blanket with his hand in the spot where it had touched his cheek. “I regret it already. Go away _.” _

The five medics set off for Novac the following morning, and shortly after their arrival, they set up their camp. Each of them was assigned a temporary role: Lolo and Arabella created a makeshift trauma ward in a hastily-assembled tent, while Nathaniel and Rory handled the basic first aid calls for the area. 

Arcade, alone, handled the ever-growing volume of patients with chem problems. “Doctor” Ada Straus had wreaked havoc upon Novac with her chem racket, and now Arcade was picking up the pieces. He’d tried to persuade her to stick around and help undo some of the damage she had caused, but her moral compass was beyond recalibration: the money she made hustling chems while disguising it as legitimate medical help was too good to resist, and so she skipped town upon realizing her clientele would soon dry up. Arcade was sure she’d moved on to a nearby town to destroy it just as badly, but addressing the fallout from that would just have to wait.

Faced with a sudden, total stoppage of their supply, many chem addicts in the area started going through withdrawals, and when they did, Arcade was there to help. He had plenty of Fixer on hand, knowing it would likely be in high demand. He’d been a detox doc before, and it was nothing new.

What  _ was _ new, however, was the itch in his teeth he felt when he made his patients empty their pockets and saw their half-full tins of Mentats laid out before him. Dutifully, however, he cast them into the fire each time, a sense of longing washing over him as he watched them burn.

Arcade watched his  _ de facto  _ students disperse, and wondered what the next day would hold.  _ Probably _ , he realized,  _ much more of the same. _

“Doctor Gannon,” Nathaniel approached him from behind, snapping him out of his thoughts, “Uh--sorry. I--I know you just dismissed us…”

“That’s okay, Nathaniel,” Arcade smiled weakly. “Also, Arcade is fine. What can I do for you?”

“I--I think you’ve got a new patient outside,” Nathaniel stammered. “I know the clinic is closed, but I’m pretty sure it’s an emergency.”

“Emergency?” Arcade questioned, “Sounds like Lolo and Arabella’s thing, no?”

“It’s a chem patient. Mentats, I think. He’s pretty--um--pretty...hysterical.”

Arcade’s heart sank, knowing the scene that would shortly lay before him. He shook his head. “Go get Lolo and Arabella, please, Nathaniel,” he directed, “Ask them to stabilize him. I’ll be in in a minute.”

He took a deep breath and counted to ten; then, entered the emergency medical tent to assist his fellow doctors once again.

_ Nihil novi sub sole _ , he thought as he readied yet another syringe of Fixer for yet another deluded, desperate patient.


	2. Chapter 2

“Something wrong?” Rory asked as Arcade nearly ran her over on his way out of the tent.

“Emergency,” he said quickly, “Mentats overdose. Hey--actually--can you hang back and help?”

“I think you’ve got it, no?” Rory raised an eyebrow, “Between you, Lolo, and Arabella?”

“Yeah…” Arcade hesitated, “Yeah, I mean...we have it...but I,  _ personally _ , would like you to come along. Would you?” He emphasized, “As a favor to me?”

“Of course, dude,” Rory nodded, concerned. “Whatever you want.”

Their patient was a gaunt man whose age had been rendered indeterminate from years of abusing the stimulant medicine. He was conscious, but wild-eyed and fervently, violently scratching at his own skin. His hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, and he had begun to hyperventilate.

“I--I didn’t--I didn’t think I  _ took _ too much--I--I have--I’m a regular--” he stammered, unable to finish his sentence as he rapidly shifted his gaze between all four medics that had joined him at his side.

“Sir, we’re going to take care of you,” Arcade assured him. “I know it’s really hard right now, but try to relax. Okay? We’re gonna get your heartrate down.”

“That  _ bitch _ Straus...I didn’t even  _ want  _ it anymore…” the man rambled, “but she got me hooked...I don’t--I don’t  _ want it _ !  _ I DON’T WANT IT!” _

Arcade swallowed and steadied himself; then, turned his attention to the two new medics. “Lolo,” he cleared his throat, “What do we do first, here?”

“IV shot of Fixer?” Lolo asked, shifting uncomfortably from the heightened tension of the atmosphere.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Arcade said impatiently.

“Telling you,” they corrected themselves, a little embarrassed. “Intravenous shot of Fixer through the femoral or radial artery.”

“That’s right,” Arcade nodded, and held up the Fixer he had readied. “Arabella, how do we dose it?”

“Um…” Arabella hesitated. “One milliliter per 100 lbs of body weight.”

“That was the pre-ration dosage. Try again.”

“Zero-point-five milliliters?”

“There you go. Arabella, find the vein; Lolo, stick ‘im.”

The two newbies did as they were commanded. Rory hung back, trying to remain close enough to jump in if needed while remaining out of the way. She did not understand why her best friend felt he needed three assistants on hand for one overdose patient, but she had learned a long time ago that it was smarter to listen to Arcade Gannon than not to.

He’d been right about their trip to the Legion camp, for one thing: they should never have gone. Arcade had nearly lost his life from a stray bullet as they escaped. 

He’d been right that Rory could not protect them both. But since he had also taught Rory how to treat a bullet wound in the field, Arcade lived.

Sparrow, however, did not--even though Arcade was guiding Rory’s hands throughout every second of the surgery. Still, this had not been his fault. Sparrow’s passing was a random possibility for which neither medic had been prepared.

_ He’s not infallible _ , Rory reflected, broken-hearted as she recalled her lover,  _ but I’ll err on the side of caution. _

She watched as the three medics took care of their patient. Gradually, his erratic movements slowed, and he no longer cried out in pain. Arcade’s impromptu tutorials drifted in one ear and out the other, Rory having heard them a hundred times before. His voice was calm, but firm and commanding.

“Lolo, saline, please. Standard-sized bag. Arabella, sedative, if we’ve got any. We do? Great. And what’s that dose again? Very good…”

Once the man was calm and conscious, Arcade knelt by his side. 

“I’m going to need you to empty your pockets, now,” he said softly.

“I--I don’t have anything else on me, man,” the patient replied, his voice trembling. “That was all I had.”

Arcade spurned the denial. “What’s your name?” 

“Jackson.”

“Jackson. We want to help you. But...we can’t do that unless you’re honest with us.”

A tense silence filled the air. Lolo looked extremely uncomfortable, staring down at their shoes until the anxious conversation passed. Arabella looked disinterested, but had not quite grown so fed up as to dismiss herself from the scene.

_ Progress _ , Rory thought,  _ A week ago, she’d have been a half-mile away by now. _

Finally, Rory spoke up. 

“You don’t want to be back here again,” she told Jackson softly. “We’ll be there if you are. But you don’t want to be.”

Jackson looked surprised, albeit apprehensive. “You would treat me again?”

“Of course. We don’t--we don’t give up on people,” Rory affirmed. 

“But,” Arcade added, “You have a choice, here. I’m gonna go ahead and say that was just about the worst you’d ever felt in your life, right?”

“Oh, yeah. No question.”

“So you’ve got a choice. While the Fixer is working, you turn over your stash, and you’re free. Or, once the cravings hit again, you take some more, and we’ll see you in another couple of weeks. And maybe you’re not so lucky, that time.”

Jackson heaved a shuddering sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow. Finally, after a tense silence, he reached his hands into his pockets.

“Here. Just...just take this shit away from me. I don’t...I don’t wanna be back here,” he murmured. He produced three tins of Mentats, all in varying states of consumption, and handed them to Arcade.

When Arcade made eye contact with Rory, she knew why he’d called her there. Not breaking her gaze, Arcade told Jackson, “I’m going to dispose of this stuff, now. Okay? Doctors Anderson and Peters are going to keep an eye on you until you can be sent home. Rory?” He jerked his head towards the tent’s exit, “Follow me?”

His commanding tone had faltered somewhat, and he seemed, instead, to plead with her. Rory nodded silently and followed Arcade out of the tent. 

“Hey…” she began when they were out of earshot of the others.

“Don’t--I don’t--want to talk,” Arcade interrupted. “I just need you to witness this.”

Approaching a nearby trash-can bonfire someone in their crew had constructed, he hesitated for a second. Rory touched his shoulder and nodded towards the fire.

One by one, he emptied the Mentats tins into the blaze, feeling a mixture of relief and nausea upon seeing them burn. At last, he threw the empty tins into the flame, and held up his open palms for Rory to see.

“Thank you,” he told his best friend. “Really. I just...I needed you to see that. Hold me accountable. Whatever,” he coughed, as a stray bit of ash entered his mouth. “I’m fine.”

“We  _ can _ talk, you know,” Rory said quietly. “I mean. If you need to. I’m there, you know? That’s all. I’m there.”

Arcade sighed. “I know, Rory. Thank you. At some point...not tonight. Tonight!” he clapped his hands, pointedly changing the conversation’s tone, “Tonight, I want some wine and some sleep. You with me?”

“Always, my friend,” Rory laughed. “Think the misfits will be alright without us?”

“They know where we’re staying,” Arcade rolled his eyes, “Go tell them to bang on the door if they need us.”

The pair made their way to their room at the Dino Dee-Lite Motel. Once they arrived, Arcade stretched out on his bed and closed his eyes. “Wait…” he stopped Rory before she could reach her own, and uselessly pointed to a nearby cabinet. “Wine. Please.”

“You are the worst,” Rory rolled her eyes, but foraged a sealed bottle from the cabinet. “Uh, this is a--” she squinted at the label, “...2073...Cabernet? I think it says Cabernet.”

“I’m sure it’s aged  _ great _ with constant 100-degree heat and zero climate control for the last two hundred years,” Arcade smirked, his eyes still closed.

“And the radiation really gives it an extra kick,” Rory laughed as she poured the wine into two glasses. She handed one to Arcade before stretching out on her own bed. 

“So what do you think of the new folks?” she asked him, taking a sip of her wine.

“Oh…” Arcade sat up and set his glass down, rubbing his temples. “I mean…”

“Awful, huh?”

“No!” he protested. “Not awful. Just...I’ve got my work cut out for me, here.” 

“No kidding,” Rory laughed. After a moment’s silence, she added, “Nathaniel seems sweet.”

“Uh--yeah,” Arcade hesitated. “But uh, you know. Needs--needs work. Really anxious guy.”

“You wouldn’t know a thing about that, huh?”

Arcade blushed, though it was unclear if it was from embarrassment or wine. “Leave me alone!”

Rory chuckled and waved her hand in the air. “So. Like you mentioned a while ago. We do have some  _ shit to do _ before Hoover Dam.”

“That’s right!” Arcade clapped his hands and sat all the way up, newly awake. “Let’s strategize.”

“We didn’t exactly leave off on a great note with House,” Rory reflected, “But I still have this.” She rummaged through her belongings and produced the Platinum Chip--the sophisticated device upon which all of House’s Securitron system upgrades were stored.

During their time trapped in the Legion Fort, Rory, with Arcade’s help, had temporarily disabled House’s Securitrons through the use of the Chip --but the plan had backfired when House caught her tampering with the software. He had left Rory and Arcade to die in the bunker, but after they escaped, a series of unfortunate events kept them from the capitalist tyrant. 

It wasn’t, of course, as though they missed House’s company, but in order to liberate New Vegas, their choices were clear: they either had to return to the Strip and talk to House, or return to the Strip and kill him.

“I can _ not _ believe you haven’t lost that, yet,” Arcade commented, impressed. 

“Honestly, that makes two of us,” Rory replied, turning the Chip over between her fingers. “So. Here’s how I see it. We get Novac stabilized--”

“--and how will we know when that is?” her best friend interjected.

“--Okay, are you just gonna interrupt me now? Is that--is that what we’re doing?”

“No. Sorry. Go on.”

“...And  _ then _ ,” Rory glared, “We can head back to New Vegas and meet House at the Lucky 38. Go from there.”

Neither of them spoke for an awkward few seconds. 

“I’m--I’m done, now, Arcade. Your turn.”

“Oh. Sorry. I’ve--I obviously have no handle on the pacing of this conversation,” Arcade grinned. “Okay. So, how do we know Novac is good to go?”

Rory considered this. “I think when those three can operate without our help, we can pick one to hang back and play medic. Send the others back to Freeside. That’s what I told Julie, anyway.”

Arcade sighed. “Shit. Do you think we have that kind of time?”

“Y...uh... _ maaaaybe _ ?” 

“I guess one incompetent, but uncorrupt, medic is better than Straus,” Arcade sipped his wine. “Shame what happened with her.  _ Corruptio optimi pessima.” _

“Gesundheit,” Rory patronized him. “Yeah, well, she’s not the first or the last, I’m sure. I think these kids are cool, though.”

“You keep calling them  _ kids _ ,” Arcade laughed. “Nathaniel is around  _ my _ age.”

“We’re talking about Nathaniel again, huh?” Rory teased him.

“ _ No _ ,” he rolled his eyes, unable to keep a faint grin from his lips. “I was going to  _ add _ that I think only Arabella is possibly younger than you.”

“ _ God _ . Don’t get me started on Arabella,” Rory groaned.

“She seems pretty smart, though!” Arcade protested, draining the last of his glass. “Quick learner.”

“Oh yeah. Brilliant. And she fucking  _ hates me _ .”

“Does she?” Arcade seemed genuinely unaware, “Oh. That’s surprising.”

“Why?” Rory prodded. “I think it’s pretty outwardly obvious.”

“Oh…no reason. Just...heard differently, is all.”

Rory opened her mouth to bully more information out of her best friend, but before she could, someone pounded on their motel room door.

“Speak of the  _ fucking  _ devil,” Rory murmured. “How much you wanna bet it’s Bitchy Longstocking?”

“Okay, that’s a  _ terrible _ nickname, if you’re trying to insult her,” Arcade could not contain his laughter. 

“No-- _ no! _ It’s  _ good!  _ Haven’t you read--has nobody  _ ever _ read the--you know what? Forget it. Get the door.”

“ _ You _ get the door!”

“I got the wine, dude. Your turn.”

Arcade groaned and rose to his feet, staggering slightly from the head-rush. Once he steadied himself, he peered through the peephole and gasped.

“ _ Holy shit… _ ” he muttered.

“What?” Rory clamored to her feet to join him at the door. “One of the new kids? Legion?”

“The Legion? No-- _ Rory! _ \--the Legion wouldn’t  _ knock _ ,” Arcade snapped impatiently.

“Whatever! Who is it?”

Without responding, Arcade threw the door open to reveal a small-framed, elderly woman that Rory did not recognize, and invited her inside.

“ _ Daisy!”  _ he cried, and hugged her immediately, for a long, long time, amid teary laughter. When they were through, he turned to Rory. “Oh, my God!” he caught his breath, “Rory, this is Daisy Whitman, an old friend of my father’s and a dear friend of mine.”

“Oh!” Rory exclaimed, and crossed the room to join them. “Hi! It’s nice to meet you.”

“Daisy,” Arcade introduced, “this is Rory Wood, my--my best friend...traveling companion...I don’t--I don’t really know what she is, but I’d be lost in the Mojave somewhere without her, I’m sure.”

“Ah, so she’s me!” Daisy laughed, “She’s to you what I was to your father.”

When Rory looked confused, Arcade explained, “Daisy was an Enclave pilot, and flew my dad on a ton of missions throughout his career.”

“Including his last,” Daisy reflected sadly. 

Seeing the concerned expression on Rory’s face, she clarified, “He was killed in combat, dear. I don’t know if Arcade told you. Actually--what  _ did _ he tell you?” she raised an eyebrow towards Arcade.

“It’s okay, Daisy. She knows all of it. She--I trust Rory with my life.  _ And _ yours, for that matter.”

“Well, color me impressed!” Daisy beamed, “Not easy for this one to trust anyone! And if he trusts you, so do I.”

“Thanks, Ms. Whitman,” Rory smiled gratefully. “What brings you to visit us?”

Daisy shook her head. “None of that. You’ll call me Daisy,” she scolded, and continued, “I live right next door! Jeannie May said some Followers were setting up in Novac. I saw you folks getting situated from my balcony, and thought, ‘Now, that can’t be little Arcade Gannon down there, lookin’ so grown up--and so  _ tall!’  _ But there you were,” she grinned, and stood on her toes to pinch Arcade’s cheek. When he tolerated this without a word, Rory couldn’t help but to snicker a little. 

Daisy took Arcade’s face in her hands and raised an eyebrow. “What did you do to your  _ hair _ , son?” she asked, running her hands through Arcade’s still-choppy curls.

“Uh--another night, Daisy,” Arcade laughed weakly. “It’ll--it’ll grow back.”

“Suit yourself,” Daisy grinned. “Well, listen, honey, knock on my door any ol’ time, ‘specially if you’re gonna be here a spell. I’d love to stay and catch up tonight, but we’ve got the NCR sniffin’ around town. I’d prefer to lay low for a little while, as I’m sure you understand.”

“Of course,” Arcade nodded, “And, actually, Daisy, you should probably not spend too much more time in our room, either. Two Enclave members congregating...NCR has a nose for that sort of thing.”

Daisy sucked some air through her teeth. “Oooh. Good point, Cadey. You got your mama’s brains, after all!”

“May her memory be a blessing,” Arcade smiled. 

“Uh--hang--hang on,” Rory stammered, “Sorry. Not to interrupt--did you say the NCR was sniffing around here, Daisy?”

The old woman nodded. “Yup. Saw some of their troopers out and about, knockin’ on doors. Something about a missing caravan? I don’t know. I didn’t stick around long enough to hear the details.”

Rory’s heart sank. “Ah. Yep. That’s--alright.” She glanced toward her friend and saw he, too, had turned pale, his earlier, slight wine blush having drained from his cheeks.

“Well, Daisy, thank you  _ so  _ much for stopping by,” she patted the old woman’s arm, feigning cheer in the wake of the disturbing news. “Please stay safe, okay?”

“You two do the same!” Daisy replied, and turned to Arcade. “What was that your daddy used to always say before he left on a flight somewhere? You remember?”

“ _ Fortis fortuna adiuvat, _ ” he recalled.

“Gesundheit,” she chuckled, “I’ll be close by if you need me, but try not to need me until the NCR buzzes off, okay?”

“You’ve got a deal, Daisy,” Arcade gave her one more hug. “See you around.”

“It was a pleasure to meet you!” Rory told her, as Daisy walked out the door.

When Daisy was back in her own motel room, Arcade sank face down onto his bed. “ _ Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck,”  _ he groaned into his pillow. Rory sat beside him and patted his shoulder. “I know, dude,” she comforted. “I know.”

“The  _ caravan, _ ” he whined. “How did we forget about the  _ caravan _ ?”

Rory sighed and faceplanted right next to her best friend, remembering to remove her glasses first. “I don’t  _ know _ ,” she murmured. “Think it’s too late to turn ourselves in?”

The second Daisy had brought up the missing NCR caravan, Arcade had instantly flashed back to a month or so prior. After a Ranger had made a pass at Rory while she slept, Arcade shot him point-blank, and the two of them stole the man’s supply caravan, riding it all the way to Novac. They’d intended to turn themselves in and explain the situation once they dropped off baby Atticus at Niobe’s house, but…

“It’s  _ way _ too late,” Arcade resigned himself, “At this point, we’d be slapped with an extra charge for ‘obstruction of justice’ or whatever other bullshit.”

Rory rolled back over and stared at the ceiling, grateful for a roof over her head for once, though it was crumbling. “So, we just stay out of their way, and hope they fuck off?”

“That’s about the size of it, yeah,” Arcade muttered, his pillow still pressed to his face.

Before Rory could respond, another knock came at their door. Her heart pounded as her adrenaline kicked in, and she yanked Arcade upright, shushing him as she did so.

“Who--who is it?” she called cautiously to their visitor.


	3. Chapter 3

“Uh--I’m really sorry to bother you guys!” called a vaguely familiar voice from outside the door. When neither Arcade nor Rory answered, he continued, “It’s--it’s Nathaniel!”

Arcade shot bolt upright from where he laid, prompting a smug grin from Rory. He death-glared over his glasses, which sat askew on his face from where he’d pressed them into the pillow, and called back through the door.

“Uh--come on in, Nathaniel,” he invited him in as he adjusted his glasses, “Should be open.”

“I--uh--it’s--it’s locked, actually,” Nathaniel stuttered as he tried the lock. 

Rory grimaced. “Sorry. I locked it after Daisy.”

Arcade rolled his eyes and rose to greet their visitor. When he opened the door, there stood Nathaniel, a nervous wreck as usual, wringing his hands as he stepped inside. 

“I’m sorry to barge in on you guys like this,” he apologized, “But I needed to ask you about something.”

“We’ve heard about the NCR already,” Rory interrupted with a sigh from where she laid. Arcade turned around and looked at her, shrugging his shoulders as if to say, “ _ What the fuck, Rory?”  _ before wheeling back around to Nathaniel.

“N--no, actually, it isn’t--I mean--it’s  _ sort  _ of--anyway,” Nathaniel cleared his throat. “What I wanted to talk to you about was that when I overheard the NCR, they--they were saying something about--about “Enclave”? I think that’s what they said. Enclave members hiding in Novac,” he told them. 

The Enclave was largely relegated to the East those days, and with no way to widely disseminate information across the United States, the Mojave Wasteland was largely ignorant to the fascist organization’s existence. Its major base in the west had been ousted by the NCR back in 2252, so for many in the region, it was nothing more than a whispered memory.

Arcade and Rory lived in Navarro as children, and so were no stranger to the Enclave or its crimes. But Arcade’s association with the paramilitary faction ran a little bit deeper than Rory’s: his father, Mark Gannon, was an Enclave officer. It did not matter to the NCR that Arcade was the virtual antithesis of his father’s ideals, for the blood tie was enough.

Though the average Mojave citizen was unaware of the horrors the Enclave had wrought, the NCR kept a watchful eye for any Enclave remnants who might be hiding in the desert--and in Novac, they’d sniffed out Arcade, Daisy, or both.

“I wanted to ask if--if that’s something we should be worried about,” Nathaniel continued.

Arcade laughed uneasily. “Enclave?  _ Please _ ,” he rolled his eyes. “There hasn’t been an active Enclave chapter in the Mojave for nearly thirty years!”

When Nathaniel didn’t look convinced, he continued, “It’s all talk. Someone’s got them riled up, I’ll grant you, but they’re nobody we need to concern ourselves with. It’s all talk. Was there anything else?” he finished quickly as he ushered Nathaniel out the door.

“Yes, actually there--there was,” Nathaniel stammered, “I just--um--I wanted to ask if you were okay, Dr. Gannon.”

Arcade corrected him patiently, though with a blush creeping up his face, “Again,” he said, “Arcade is fine. Why do you ask?”

Nathaniel stared at the ground and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “It’s nothing. You just--you just seemed a little rattled by that last patient. I mean--you were  _ great _ with him, of course. And  _ please _ don’t take this as any kind of criticism of your work...”

Arcade wondered how much to disclose to the new doctor. He wanted to be honest, but did not want to give the misfits any reason to distrust his guidance. Before he could decide, though, Rory did so for him.

“He’s just overtired, Nathaniel,” she offered, “It’s nothing.” 

Arcade nodded to back this up and added, “It’s been a pretty long day.”

“Oh. Well...okay. Just checking,” Nathaniel grinned nervously. “I--I should let you and your wife get some--”

“I--I’m sorry,” Arcade interrupted, “My  _ what? _ ”

“His  _ what? _ ” Rory echoed, stunned.

“Oh!” Nathaniel blushed, “I’m--I’m so sorry, I just assumed--”

“Gay,” Rory cut him off, “Really gay. Both gay, in fact!”

“Right,” he nodded, processing the information with a slow blink. “That’s--alright. That’s--that’s good to know.”

Rory raised an eyebrow. “‘Good to know’? Any particular reason?”

Nathaniel looked as though he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and froze. “No. I--I have to go, though” he replied quickly. “Thanks for--for answering my--yeah. Goodbye!” he waved as he hastily scrambled down the motel steps.

“And  _ by the way! _ ” Rory called after him as he scurried off, “Even if I  _ was _ married to this nerd I would  _ have a name! _ ” She shook her head and addressed her best friend. “It’s ridiculous. Can you believe this guy?  _ Oh, blah blah blah, that  _ girl _ , that  _ broad,  _ that  _ dame, _ the big fancy scientist’s wife!  _ Bitch,” she finished her rant, “My name is Rory.”

Arcade couldn’t help but laugh. “ _ You _ need to go to bed,” he admonished her.

“Says who?” 

Arcade held up the mostly-empty wine bottle and raised an eyebrow. “You only start calling me a nerd after a glass or two, but when you start using weird, Benny words like ‘dame’ and ‘broad’, it’s time to cut you off.”

Rory grinned as she pulled the scratchy old blanket over herself and removed her glasses. “You really do know me too well,” she murmured as she closed her eyes.

“Wait--that was--my--nevermind,” Arcade sighed, and crossed the room to the bed that was formerly Rory’s. He switched out the lamp that sat between them and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.

“Hey, Rory?” he called through the darkness, “Why do  _ you _ think Nathaniel said that was ‘good to know?’”

Rory did not immediately respond, but after a few seconds simply muttered, “ _ Gay _ ”.

“You think so?” Arcade pressed. “Why do you think?”

By that point, his best friend was already fast asleep.

***

“What’d you find out?” Arabella asked Nathaniel as he approached the spot where she and Lolo sat near a makeshift bonfire.

“Oh--um--well? They’re both gay,” he replied.

Arabella rolled her eyes. “I  _ meant _ about the Enclave or whatever. Duh.”

“Good to know, though, right?” Lolo piped up.

“Shut up,” she snapped.

“He said the Enclave hadn’t been spotted in the Mojave for almost 30 years and there was nothing to worry about,” Nathaniel shrugged. “I guess I believe him.”

Arabella shook her head. “No. No, uh-uh. The NCR doesn’t go on a  _ hunch _ ,” she insisted. “What else did that freakshow have to say?”

“Gannon or Wood?” Lolo inquired.

She chuckled. “Take your pick.”

Nathaniel cleared his throat. “Um. Well? He--he said it was nothing to worry about, really. That’s all. Didn’t get much more than that.”

“Uh-huh. Did he say why he was acting so squirrely over that Mentats patient?”

Nathaniel paused. “Actually, no. He didn’t. Wood stopped him. Said he was just overtired.”

“Now  _ that _ weirds me out more than the Enclave thing,” Lolo said. “Think he’s hooked on something?”

“Should we even be  _ trusting _ him with addiction patients?” Arabella raised an eyebrow. “I dunno. I don’t buy this good-guy, good-doctor act. There’s a reason  _ we _ got stuck with him.”

“What do you mean?” Nathaniel queried.

She laughed dryly. “I mean, it’s not exactly a secret that we were at the bottom of our class in some way or another. Farkas just wanted to get rid of us, so she sent us off with these two...probably to keep us out of Freeside.”

“But why would she want us  _ out _ of Freeside?” Lolo argued, “It sounded like they needed warm bodies more than anything else.”

Arabella considered this as she messed with her pigtails. “Maybe,” she gasped, “it was less about keeping  _ us _ out and more about giving  _ Gannon and Wood _ a reason to be away.”

In response to the startling notion, Nathaniel uncharacteristically raised his voice. “I think--I think this is  _ ridiculous _ ,” he spat. “S--say Dr. Gannon does have a chem problem...who--who better suited to treat addicts than--than someone who knows what they’re going through? And--and the--the idea that he’s--somehow connected with--with the  _ Enclave _ \--ridiculous,” he deflated. “Just--just listen to yourselves!”

“Why are you so far up his ass, anyway?” Arabella rolled her eyes. “You don’t even know him.”

Nathaniel faltered. “I just--I just don’t think being so  _ suspicious _ will get us anywhere. Th--that’s all.”

“Maybe he’s right,” Lolo sighed. “Being away from everyone except one another might be making us a little paranoid. I’m sure Gannon and Wood are just normal Followers doing field work, and we’re along for the ride. Right?” They looked to Arabella.

Arabella  _ tsk _ ed. “I’ll be in my bunk. Wake me when one of you chucklefucks has something  _ substantial _ to tell me, or else, if someone’s dying.”

When she walked away, Lolo chuckled to themselves and shook their head. “God,” they muttered, “You know this is all about her trying to like, ‘save’ Wood or whatever twisted trope is in her mind, right?”

Nathaniel blinked, a little surprised. “Really? I--I was under the impression that she--she didn’t like Wood very much.”

“I was, too, but she and I had a moment...I dunno...she told me how she felt about Wood. And,” they laughed, “Let’s be honest. Could you even  _ tell _ whether Arabella liked you or hated you?”

“Good point,” Nathaniel grinned. “Still. I just--I’m just not that worried about Dr. Gannon. I just--I just think he’s a good guy.”

Lolo tossed some water over the bonfire around which the trio had gathered, and made their way to their own bunk. “I hope you’re right, Nathaniel,” they nodded. “I really hope so. Get some sleep, okay, bud?”

“Good--goodnight, Lolo,” Nathaniel stammered as he stared up at the night stars before heading to bed himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Rory rubbed her eyes and flinched from pain, the previous night’s overindulgence having caught up with her. Groping blindly for her glasses, she squinted at the blond-haired lump in the adjacent bed.  _ Funny _ , she thought,  _ did we switch beds at some point? Could have sworn that one was mine… _

“Arcade,” she murmured as she slipped her glasses on, the world slowly settling back into view as it recovered from its blurry, spinning state.

“Mm?” the lump replied groggily, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Rory strained, “Uh. More or less. H-hey,” she wrung her hands, inexplicably nervous over what she was about to ask him. “Before we get situated this morning at the camp…”

“Don’t worry,” Arcade cut her off, handing her a canteen, “Already dug around for some cactus water. Figured you might need it after killing a full bottle of 200-year-old-red.”

“Oh, thanks,” she laughed, accepting the bottle, “But, uh, there was something else.” She paused to take a swig, and sighed with the relief it brought her. “Little more important than my hangover.”

Arcade sat up fully in his bed. “What’s up?”

Rory took a deep breath before finally telling him, “I...I want to go see Niobe and Atticus today.”

After a couple moments of silence, Arcade nodded. “Alright. You got it. Do you--do you want me to come with you?” he clarified.

“Please?”

“Yeah, Rory,” he nodded, his brow knitting with sympathy, “Of course. I just...I didn’t know if you’d want to be by yourself. That’s all. Or I’d have offered right away.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I should be by myself. I dunno why. I guess...oh, man. You...I mean, honestly, you did the bulk of the work of keeping Atticus alive those first few days. Atticus and--well--uh--yeah,” she finished lamely.

The awkward pause left plenty of space for painful memories. 

Arcade often tried to forget how he’d once had to stop Rory from taking her own life, crazed with grief as she was by Sparrow’s sudden death in childbirth. However, the memory of grabbing Rory’s wrists--one outstretched, one gripping a quivering surgical scalpel--was burned in his mind, and had startled him from a sound sleep on more than one occasion. He did not hold her tenuous mental health against her by any means, but he realized, with a sinking feeling in his chest, that he had never quite come to grips with how the traumatic event had impacted his own. 

“ I--I think it’s just as important that you’re there, you know?” Rory finished, curtailing Arcade’s train of thought.

“Y--yeah,” he affirmed. He started vigorously cleaning his glasses on his shirt, as was his nervous habit. “I think--I think you’re right. Yeah.” He glanced out the window towards the sunrise. “Suppose they’re already awake?”

Rory sighed. “I need a minute anyway. Re-hydrate, freshen up and all that.”

“Take your time,” Arcade nodded. “The misfits can manage without us for an hour or so.”

The morning routine in the Mojave lacked luxury, but Rory always found a way to dawdle. 

Since they were lucky enough to be in a motel, they had running water, and she splashed some on her face. She applied a thin layer of aloe vera to her face, neck and arms for sunblock, and tied her wild mane of curly, red hair into a ponytail using her most prized possession--a hair-tie from Sparrow. Finally, she reached for her homemade red lipstick, which was stored in a tiny cosmetic jar rather than a convenient tube. For lack of an applicator, she’d long ago learned to carefully apply it with her pinky finger, and did so any time she needed a little extra confidence for the day. With no other cosmetics to accompany it, it did not have quite the same effect on Rory as it did on the cover girls of the pre-war magazines she loved to flip through, but it comforted her all the same.

Arcade grimaced as he watched: he knew the lipstick was made from ground-up cochineal bugs and beeswax, and was grateful he wouldn’t be kissing her anytime soon. 

“Get that look off your face,” Rory rolled her eyes, still facing the mirror. “I  _ know _ you’ve got it on.”

“It’s  _ bugs _ , Rory!” he groaned, “I respect your process and everything, but... _ ew. _ ”

“We’ve eaten worse,” she shrugged, to which Arcade had no rebuttal. “Anyway. I’m ready. Are you?”

“As ever, I guess,” Arcade rose from the bed and stretched. “Pass me the aloe. You know I--”

“--Sunburn easily, yeah, I know,” Rory finished, “I feel like you tell me this every day.”

“Well--it’s true every day!” he protested as he slathered the goop on his face.

Once the pair was situated, they headed down the motel steps and set off for Niobe’s house. Arcade called out to the misfits as they passed their camp, “Go ahead and open up without us, alright? We just have a quick errand to run.”

“You got it!” Nathaniel called back, with a two-finger salute.

Out of Arcade and Rory’s earshot, Arabella tapped Lolo’s shoulder and sang quietly, “I  _ wonder _ what  _ super secret errand _ those two are up to without the rest of us. I’m  _ sure _ it’s official Followers business.”

Lolo rolled their eyes. “Would you give it a rest? They’re probably just scavving supplies or something.” 

She scoffed. “ _ We _ are the minions, Lolo! That’s  _ our _ job! Why wouldn’t they send one of us?” 

All of a sudden, her eyes lit up with an idea. “Hey. Maybe one of us  _ should _ tag along.”

“No way,” Lolo cut her off, “No. You are  _ not _ following them around. You’re such a fucking shit-stirrer!”

“You’re right,” Arabella pondered, “They’ll suspect me. But they wouldn’t suspect…”

She grinned as she turned to Nathaniel. “ _ Hey _ , Nate!” she crooned, “Wanna do mama a favor?”

“Jesus Christ,” Lolo murmured.

“I--I don’t--no. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Nathaniel stammered. “I--I  _ trust _ Doctor Gannon!  _ And _ Wood! How would it look if I--if I followed them like that?”

“If you trust them, just hang back and watch! If there’s nothing to report, your conscience is clear, and I’ll shut up forever,” Arabella offered.

Lolo grabbed Nathaniel’s shoulders. “You hear that?” they pleaded, “She just said it. She’ll shut up forever. This is our  _ chance _ , man. Take one for the team!”

Nathaniel bristled as he swatted Lolo’s hands away. “F-fine,” he snapped, “ _ Fine! _ But this is  _ it! _ I am--I am  _ not _ entertaining this nonsense  _ anymore  _ after this!”

“Whatever, dude,  _ thank you! _ ” Arabella said sweetly as she shooed him away.

***

“Wait. Arcade--hey! Stop,” Rory grabbed his hand, catching it just before he knocked on Niobe’s door. “I--I don’t know. What if she doesn’t want to see us?” she fretted.

Arcade tried, at first, to make light of the situation. “ _ What? _ ” he feigned shock, “You have your weird bug lipstick on and you’re  _ nervous _ about something?”

When Rory glared at him and did not respond, he dropped the act in favor of comfort. “Sorry,” he said softly, “Hey. She’ll want to see us. I promise. She--she said she expected us back, remember?”

Rory nodded slowly. “I know. But...I mean, that was a  _ while _ ago.”

When Arcade and Rory had dropped Atticus off with Niobe, he was only a few days old. By now, he’d learned to fuss, to smile, to react to the world around him. Rory’s heart sank as she realized she might not even recognize him anymore--and worse, that he would likely not remember her.

“We’ll never know unless we knock,” Arcade said quietly.

Rory swallowed and waved her hand. “Yeah. Yeah--go ahead. Do it.”

But before he could, the door cracked cautiously open from the other side, and a familiar face peeked through. 

“I heard there were Followers doctors in town,” Niobe smiled, “I hoped it was you. Arcade, Rory, come in.”

The two friends crossed the threshold after her. Niobe gestured to the worn couch in the living room for them to sit, as they had during their last meeting. “I’ll go get the baby,” she said, before either of them could speak, and smiled as she added, “I know he’s the real reason you’re here.”

“Well, we wanted to check on you too, of course!” Arcade laughed politely. 

Niobe briefly disappeared from view, and returned holding baby Atticus. 

Rory’s heart pounded with nerves as Niobe gently placed the baby in her arms. His sparkling, green eyes--just like his mother’s--gazed up at her. He was no longer the tiny, helpless bundle he’d been when Rory left him behind: he had a  _ personality _ , now, and it showed in his smile. To Rory’s delight, he did not fuss when she held him, instead cooing and burying his face in her chest. 

As she bounced Atticus on her knee, she turned her attention to Niobe. “How have things been?” she asked her.

“Better, since you folks showed up,” Niobe answered. “But actually, I was hoping you would stop by. I need to tell you something important.” She paused, nervously wringing her hands. “It’s about that NCR caravan y’all left behind last time you were here.”

Arcade’s heart sank as he cut her off. “I know,” he said, “It was found, and now they’re looking for the folks who stole it.” He sighed. “We fucked up. We know.”

Niobe shook her head. “It’s worse than that,” she said solemnly, “They...uh...they found something pretty incriminating in the back. They’re--they’re looking for  _ you _ . Specifically.”

The silence hung heavily in the air. Rory and Arcade racked their brains for what they possibly could have left behind.  _ DNA? Clothing? An ID badge? _

“Oh my God,” Rory whispered as she reached her hand into her pocket, groping frantically at nothing. “Arcade. Do you--do you have the--”

“The  _ journal! _ ” Arcade cried, “Jesus  _ Christ! _ No! I don’t! Do  _ you? _ ”

“ _ No! _ If  _ I  _ had it, why would  _ I  _ have asked--”

“You need to go!” Niobe yelled over them both. “Right away. The NCR has been sniffing around town for days, and if they find you…” She could not finish the sentence. “You have to hide. I’d let you stay here, but it’s--it’s too close. They’ll find you within a couple of days.”

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” Rory despaired, burying her face in her hands. “Where the fuck are we going to  _ go _ ? And what about the  _ camp _ ?”

“The three newbies will just have to get by without us,” Arcade murmured, a thousand-yard stare settling on his face, “We have to get the hell out of here.”

“But…” Rory’s voice broke, “We made a promise…”

“Please,” Niobe cut her off, “Don’t worry about us. We--we got by in Novac with Straus for years. Three Followers is a wonderful start, even if they’re not fully trained.”

Rory laughed hollowly. “You, uh, obviously haven’t met these people.” 

Niobe looked to Arcade for clarification, but he only grimaced.

_ “Besides _ that,” Rory continued, “they’re not equipped to handle the chem withdrawal patients that are flooding in after Straus skipped town!”

After a period of silence where none of them knew quite what to say, Niobe offered Rory her hand in sympathy. “Honey,” she began as Rory took it, “Y’all aren’t gonna be able to save  _ anybody _ else unless you can keep yourselves safe. Okay?”

Arcade nodded, backing her up. “She’s right,” he agreed, “And we don’t need to be gone forever. Just long enough for the NCR to decide we aren’t worth their time.”

“But when will  _ that _ be?” Rory moaned, “If they don’t find us here, they’ll find us in Freeside. They’ll ask Julie where we went.  _ Some _ thing.”

Suddenly, an idea struck Arcade. “The security on the Strip is  _ abhorrent _ ,” he mused, staring into space.

“...uh-huh...how do you figure?” Rory raised an eyebrow.

“Vulpes,” he clarified, “All he had to do was wear a dumb suit and the Securitrons missed him entirely. Remember?”

What he said was true: when Caesar’s most notorious Legion spy, Vulpes Inculta, had approached them on the Strip, neither House’s security systems nor any NCR members had batted an eye.

“I do,” Rory nodded, “But why does  _ that _ matter?”

Arcade’s enthusiasm slowly mounted as he explained his thought process. “I’m saying...if we stay  _ moving _ ...if we ditch the misfits for now and head for the Strip...find some new attire that doesn’t scream, ‘I AM A FOLLOWER OF THE APOCALYPSE AND I AM HERE TO START THE REVOLUTION’...”

Rory frantically cut him off. “Ah--sorry--not to be rude, Niobe--but maybe--maybe we stop talking now?” she smiled, a sense of urgency in her eyes.

“Right,” Arcade shook his head. “I’m just--I’m just saying. Harder to track us if we’re not staying in one place.”

“Well,” Niobe interrupted, “Whatever it is you’re planning, you’d better get on it. The NCR is  _ nosy _ . I’m actually kind of surprised they haven’t tracked you down already.”

Rory gazed down at baby Atticus, trying not to let her emotions take over in a moment where her sense of reason must prevail. “Okay,” she nodded, not taking her eyes off him, “We--we can go. I  _ hate _ it. But--yeah. I  _ will _ be back, you know,” she insisted with a weak laugh.

Niobe smiled. “I know you will be, honey. But you gotta get out.  _ Now _ .” Her expression darkened. “Or you’re never gonna see that baby grow up.”

As Rory handed Atticus back to Niobe, her eyes welled with tears. “You’ll--you’ll take good care of him. Right?” She smiled desperately.

“Of course. I always have, haven’t I?” Niobe assured her. “Now go on. Y’all both get on out of here while you can.”

Frozen in place, Rory met Arcade’s eyes. He nodded and gestured for her to follow him. “Come on, Rory,” he said softly. “We’ll figure out our next steps as we go.”

The pair headed for the door, trying desperately to figure out what came next. When Arcade opened it, though, they were shocked to see Nathaniel on the other side.


	5. Chapter 5

“Baby? Wake up. We have to get out of here  _ now _ .”

Nineteen-year-old Arcade rubbed his eyes and squinted through the darkness, barely able to make out his mother, Abigail’s face. He blindly groped for his glasses. 

“Wh--huh? Mom? What are you talking about?” he murmured, his voice thick with sleep.

Abigail grabbed his hand and dragged him from his bed. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” she whispered, her voice trembling, “We don’t have time to--”

“HURRY THE FUCK UP!” bellowed an unfamiliar voice from downstairs.

Arcade’s heart sank as he realized what was happening. His mother had warned him long ago: sooner or later, the NCR would break down their door and force the pair of them from their home.

His late father, Mark, was barely a whisper in his memory, having died when Arcade was very young. The NCR, however, was relentless, and had dedicated manpower to raiding the Navarro area for the last several months to oust any Enclave soldiers that remained in hiding. If they had already died, whether naturally or in combat, their families would have to suffice to settle the score.

Some Enclave families had tried to defy the NCR soldiers, refusing to leave their homes, and were promptly executed on the spot. Their bodies were laid on their front lawns for their neighbors to see the next morning, marked with a crude rendering of the Enclave’s signature, star-spangled ‘E’ in red paint so that everybody would know their crimes.

“Don’t bother trying to grab anything,” Abigail whispered frantically, ushering him through the bedroom door’s threshold, “Clothes on your back. That’s all.”

“Mom--”

“ _ Arcade _ ,” she snapped, “I’m not joking.”

“My stuff…” he protested weakly, to no avail.

“You’ll get new stuff,” she interrupted. “Hurry up!”

“But Mom--”

Abigail stopped in her tracks, and wheeled around to face him, tapping her foot in exasperation. “ _ What _ , baby? We really don’t have time.”

“There’s a little girl a few houses down,” he said quietly, “She hurt herself today...I was supposed to go check on her. Can I go check on her?”

Abigail softened as she took her son’s hand once more. “My sweet boy,” she said softly, “You care so much about other people...but  _ baby _ ...you’re--you’re gonna be able to help so many more people if you  _ keep yourself safe right now _ . Do you understand?” When Arcade did not reply, she dragged him forward once more. “It’s late, anyway. She’s okay. Okay? What’s that--that Wood family? Nice folks. They’ll take care of her. I promise.”

“I don’t want to leave,” he tried to protest once more, “This is Dad’s house. I--I don’t want to--”

“IF YOU DON’T GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS, WE ARE AUTHORIZED TO USE LETHAL FORCE AND WILL  _ SHOOT! YOU! DEAD!  _ DO YOU HEAR ME?”

“There’s a school in Angel’s Boneyard,” Abigail rushed to explain as they fled, “The Followers of the Apocalypse. They’ll teach you. Okay? They’ll teach you everything. We can stay with my sister until you’re done. Come on. We have to  _ go! _ ”

The NCR soldiers at the door stood with their weapons drawn and their fingers on the triggers. Arcade’s heart pounded with terror: though he was quite tall himself, the sheer mass and firepower they had on him meant he knew better than to pick any fights on his way out the door. He desperately wanted to throw punches, scream in their faces, snap their weapons over his knee and tell them to go back to the Hell they came from. They hadn’t just forced him and his mother from their home--they’d scared his mother into silence.

Abigail raised him by herself, and so she’d taught him everything he knew. He learned to fight for those weaker than himself, to stand up for what was right, to be kind, to speak up against injustice-- _ especially _ to speak up. To see her reduced to a tearful shell of the mother he knew so well was agonizing, and inspired fury he’d never felt before. 

Powerless to act upon his anger, he followed his mother out the door, and disappeared with her into the cool Mojave night, never to be seen in Navarro again. Weeks later, they reached Angel’s Boneyard, and Arcade began his schooling with the Followers. Despite how far he’d come, he would never forget the night he and his mother lost their home.

***

“We’ll figure out our next steps as we go,” Arcade found himself saying to Rory as he crashed back to Earth. He recalled very little of the moments before that: something in him had taken over the auto-pilot as he relived the most painful night of his life.

He felt numb as they slowly made their way to Niobe’s front door, and his heart ached as he wondered:  _ Will I ever be able to stop running? _

When they opened the door to find Nathaniel on the other side, though, his heart pounded in a very different way.

“Ugh,” Rory groaned upon seeing him. “ _ You _ again.”

“Don’t be rude,” Arcade hissed, pinching her side. She glared back, implying that he would pay dearly for that move later, but disregarded him. 

“How much did you hear?” she demanded of Nathaniel.

“Um--w--well? Enough,” he stammered. “Enough to uh--know you’re leaving.”

“Yeah, well, sayonara, dude,” Rory confirmed. “Tell the others we--we died, or something. I don’t care,” she murmured absentmindedly as she tied her bootlaces.

“Look--I--I didn’t hear  _ much _ ,” he hesitated, “I just--I just know you’re headed for the Strip.”

“In that general direction,” Arcade interrupted, before Rory could antagonize Nathaniel further, “That’s right.”

He sighed and motioned for Nathaniel to follow him and Rory away from Niobe’s door. 

“Look,” he began, “It’s--it’s nothing. Long time ago, me and Rory screwed up, something happened, NCR got mad, okay?”

“Well--what happened?” Nathaniel queried.

Arcade paused, considering how much to reveal. Finally, he settled for a technical truth. “We...made off with something of theirs, is all. And forgot to give it back when we were done.”

“We’re just  _ confessing _ to people now,” Rory rolled her eyes, “Great.  _ Very _ cool.”

Arcade was annoyed with his companion. Her standard lack of a filter seemed amplified around Nathaniel, as though she enjoyed rattling his nerves. It wasn’t clear to Arcade whether Rory’s contrary behavior was intended in good spirits--just poorly received by someone who didn’t handle banter well--or intended to cause problems. Either way, he desperately wanted her to cut it out.

Before he could retort, though, Nathaniel spoke up. “I--I don’t need to know any more,” he said quickly, “But, well--I  _ do _ kind of wonder how this camp is going to keep running without you guys.”

“Simple enough stuff, no?” Arcade replied, raising an eyebrow as he began walking, “Between the three of you, I’m sure it’ll be fine. And we’ll be  _ back _ , anyway.”

“We will?” Rory was surprised at Arcade’s apparent confidence in that statement.

She knew that, thus far, in all they’d done together, they’d been extremely fortunate. They’d escaped House’s fortified bunker, the Legion fort, a crooked NCR agent, and more--but the task that loomed before them would be risking it all.  _ Sooner or later, the house always wins, _ she thought sadly.  _ Hey! Wait a minute...the house...House...I wonder if that’s his given name-- _

“Yes,” Arcade firmly interrupted her asinine thought spiral, “We will.”

Nathaniel hemmed and hawed in place, bouncing anxiously on his heels as Arcade and Rory forged ahead of him. 

“I--I could come with you,” he spoke suddenly, causing the pair of them to stop in their tracks.

Rory slowly turned around to face him. “You’re kidding,” she tried not to laugh. 

“I’m not!” Nathaniel protested, with uncharacteristic confidence. “I’m not. I--I know I have a lot to learn--medicine-wise--but--but how did  _ you _ learn?” he nodded to Rory.

Rory thought about it for a moment. She’d received little formal training with the Followers, having never attended their main university in California, but Arcade taught her most of what she knew as they traveled, ever since their first meeting. These days, she was pretty competent.  _ Miles ahead of this guy, anyway, _ she thought as she cast a judgmental eye over the anxious wreck before her. 

Before she could respond, Arcade spoke up. “He’s got a point, Rory. Field training is best. Helps you learn to make decisions under pressure.”

Rory elected not to snipe back at her friend, knowing, in her heart, that he was right--even if his motives were not quite as noble as they seemed. After a tense few moments, she finally heaved a great sigh.

“ _ Fine _ ,” she groaned, “Fine. But if he screws us over, in any way, in  _ any! _ Way at all, I’m dropping his ass back off with Julie when we reach Freeside.”

Arcade nodded. “Seems fair,” he conceded.

“Oh,  _ thank _ you,” Nathaniel grinned, “Thank you. Really. I--you won’t regret it! I--I  _ know _ I’ll be an asset to you both!”

Rory heard Julie Farkas’ voice come from her mouth as she smirked, “I regret it already.”

Nathaniel lagged slightly behind as Rory and Arcade forged ahead. He couldn’t believe how easy it had been to convince the doctors to let him come with them. _I always thought Gannon was the smart one between the two of them,_ he thought with a grin. _I guess Wood is gonna be the one who gives me a hard time, after all._


End file.
